Biden dithers on vaccination while COVID’s new strains rage

 Two straight weeks of good news: COVID-19 cases are declining, hospitalizations are likewise down and the daily pace of vaccinations is on the rise nationwide. What’s not to celebrate? Plenty, sadly.

The nation’s leading infectious-disease experts are warning that the situation is dire, because new, more dangerous strains of the novel coronavirus threaten the success of the US vaccination ­effort. They caution that we’re in a race to vaccinate the American population before the virus becomes vaccine-resistant.

Message to the Biden administration: The public doesn’t want to see any more presidential news conferences announcing climate day, racial-equity day, immigration-reform day or any other boutique-left themes. Every day needs to be vaccination day. Urgency needs to be translated into action.

A variant dubbed B.1.1.7 ­appeared in Britain in September. It’s at least 50 percent more contagious than original strain, and it forced much of the UK into fresh lockdowns. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predict it will be the dominant strain here by March.

A new strain from South Africa blasts right through the antibody drugs used to treat former President Donald Trump and may also resist some vaccines. An especially lethal Brazilian strain is producing carnage in the Amazon ­region, even causing serious illness in young people.

The threat from these new strains “changes everything,” warns Peter Hotez, of Baylor College of Medicine, including the vaccine timetable.

Biden’s goal for finishing vaccination is the end of summer, but that’s too late, says Hotez: “We’re going to have to figure out a way to vaccinate the American people by late spring. That’s a tall order.”

Hotez admits that “to get there, we need a rate of immunization two or three times higher” than Biden’s plan. Most experts agree. Jennifer Nuzzo of Johns Hopkins says “we are in a race against time.” Ashish Jha from Brown University insists “there is zero justification for not vaccinating around the clock. We are in a race against the variants.”

Biden claims his administration is waging “war” against the virus. Don’t believe it. He’s making open borders a higher priority. That’s deadly. Mexico is overwhelmed by COVID-19.

Mexican farm workers cross the border, decline to be tested and spread the infection along the border towns, The New York Times reports. Yuma County, Ariz., where migrants harvest lettuce, has the highest infection rate in the United States.

Biden has put tight restrictions on international air travel, while halting the Remain in Mexico program and border-wall construction. Air travelers must test negative before embarking, quarantine on arrival and test negative again. But what’s the point, if people from dozens of countries walk through Mexico and enter with none of those restrictions?

As for getting vaccine shots into people’s arms, Biden has ­instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help 11 states so far set up and operate vaccination sites. He needs to ­expand this effort.

Recently, Pfizer failed to deliver doses as promised, slowing the pace of vaccinations in many places, including New York City. A shortage of raw materials was partly to blame. That’s a lesson for the future. America needs a medical supply chain with active ingredients made in the homeland.

The US is also pitifully behind in identifying germ threats before they become widespread. Many countries routinely sample positive COVID tests for unusual ­mutations. The UK samples 10 percent of its tests. The US shockingly samples less than 1 percent, less than any other developed country.

The Trump administration called on the CDC to boost surveillance testing last spring, and the Biden administration should make it a priority. Now and for the future. Surveillance testing is vital to identify future germ threats or even a biological attack.

The experts warn that Biden has a half-year window to vaccinate and conquer the pandemic. Our return to normal life depends on it. Yet instead of focusing on this one urgent mission, as he promised before he was elected, Biden is rolling out the left’s wish list. Our lives be damned.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and author of “The Next Pandemic.”

https://nypost.com/2021/02/02/biden-dithers-on-vaccination-while-covids-new-strains-rage/

Mexico approves Russian Sputnik V vaccine, signs deal for supply

 Mexico has approved emergency use of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine after signing a contract for millions of doses of the product, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday.

In a morning news conference, Lopez-Gatell said Mexico’s contract provided for 7.4 million doses between February and April, with more due in May.

“This gives us an enormous opportunity to accelerate vaccination in Mexico,” said Lopez-Gatell, whose country began using the Pfizer vaccine in December.

Later, at an evening news conference, Lopez-Gatell said Mexican health regulator COFEPRIS had authorized Sputnik V for emergency use.

Mexico is trying to secure as much vaccine supply as possible for its 126 million people following delays of some products amid a global scramble for vaccines.

Latin American nations, including Argentina and Mexico, showed an early interest in locking down supplies of the Russian vaccine. In December, the makers of Sputnik V requested to carry out clinical trials in Mexico.

Global interest in Sputnik V was bolstered on Tuesday after peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical trial were published in The Lancet international medical journal.

Sputnik V was 91.6% effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19, according to those results.

Requiring two shots, Sputnik V has been approved for storage in normal fridges, rather than freezers, according to scientists at the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow that developed it.

This ease of transportation and distribution has appealed to Mexico, which has hard-to-reach rural areas and a struggling national healthcare system.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week about buying 24 million doses of the vaccine.

Lopez-Gatell met Russian officials and gained access to technical files about the vaccine during a trip to Argentina in January. Argentina started rolling out Sputnik V to healthworkers in December.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-mexico-russia/mexico-approves-russian-sputnik-v-vaccine-signs-deal-for-supply-idUSKBN2A21XN

Sinopharm's COVID-19 vax remained active against S.Africa variant, effect reduced

 Two COVID-19 vaccines from Chinese companies including Sinopharm triggered immunity against a highly transmissible coronavirus variant first found in South Africa, but their effect appeared weaker, a small-sample lab study released on Tuesday showed.

Variants of the virus have stirred concern that they might weaken effects of vaccines and treatments developed prior to their emergence.

Twelve serum samples each taken from recipients of two vaccines developed by a subsidiary of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and a unit of Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products retained neutralising activity against the South African variant, their researchers said in a paper.

The paper was written by researchers from Sinopharm-affiliated Beijing Institute of Biological Products, the Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is co-developing a candidate with Zhifei unit, and two other Chinese agencies.

However, the samples' activity against the variant was weaker than against the original virus and another variant currently spreading globally, according to the paper published on website BioRxiv ahead its peer-review. bit.ly/3rfr2UZ

The activity reduction “should be taken into account for its impact for the clinical efficacy of these vaccines,” they said.

The Sinopharm vaccine is approved in China for general public use and is also used in several other countries including the United Arab Emirates. The Zhifei shot is in late-stage clinical trials in China and overseas.

Preliminary clinical trial data on vaccines from Novavax Inc and Johnson & Johnson also showed they were significantly less effective at preventing COVID-19 in trial participants in South Africa, where the potent new variant is widespread.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-vaccine/sinopharms-covid-19-vaccine-remained-active-against-s-africa-variant-effect-reduced-lab-study-idUSKBN2A30DT

GSK, CureVac partnership eyes COVID-19 vaccine against multiple variants

 Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline and German biotech firm CureVac struck a 150 million euro ($180 million) deal to develop next-generation vaccines against COVID-19 that target several variants in one product.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the partners said they were targeting a possible launch in 2022.

GSK, which holds a stake in CureVac, will also support the production of up to 100 million doses of CureVac’s first generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate in 2021, they said.

For GSK, the world’s largest vaccine maker by sales, it marks a fresh attempt to play a relevant role in fighting the pandemic after a COVID-19 alliance with Sanofi was hobbled by development delays and after a similar collaboration with China’s Clover Biopharmaceuticals was ended.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-gsk/gsk-curevac-partnership-eyes-covid-19-vaccine-against-multiple-variants-idUSKBN2A30U2

Recovered COVID patients likely protected at least 6 months: study

 Almost all people previously infected with COVID-19 have high levels of antibodies for at least six months that are likely to protect them from reinfection with the disease, results of a major UK study showed on Wednesday.

Scientists said the study, which measured levels of previous COVID-19 infection in populations across Britain, as well as how long antibodies persisted in those infected, should provide some reassurance that swift cases of reinfection will be rare.

“The vast majority of people retain detectable antibodies for at least six months after infection with the coronavirus,” said Naomi Allen, a professor and chief scientist at the UK Biobank, where the study was carried out.

Among participants who had tested positive for previous COVID-19 infection, 99% retained antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 for three months, the results showed. After the full six months of follow-up in the study, 88% still had them.

“Although we cannot be certain how this relates to immunity, the results suggest that people may be protected against subsequent infection for at least six months following natural infection,” Allen said.

She said the findings were also consistent with results of other studies in the United Kingdom and Iceland which found that antibodies to the coronavirus tended to persist for several months in those who have had the disease and recovered.

A study of UK healthcare workers published last month found that people who have had COVID-19 were likely to be protected for at least five months, but noted that those with antibodies may still be able to carry and spread the virus.

The UK Biobank study also found that the proportion of the UK population with COVID-19 antibodies - a measure known as seroprevalence - rose from 6.6% at the start of the study period in May/June 2020 to 8.8% by November/December 2020.

SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was most common in London, at 12.4%, and least common in Scotland at 5.5%, it found.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-antibodies/recovered-covid-patients-likely-protected-for-at-least-six-months-study-finds-idUSKBN2A3002

Vaccines may protect against severe disease even as variants evolve: Oxford's Pollard

 COVID-19 vaccines might offer protection against severe disease even as coronavirus variants evolve to better allow continued transmission between people, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group Andrew Pollard said on Wednesday.

Asked how effective the Oxford/AstraZeneca will be against new variants, he said “they are making changes that allow them to avoid human immune responses, so that they can still transmit.”

“So, that does mean that it’s likely over time that the virus will find ways of adapting so that can continue to pass between people,” he told BBC TV.

“But that doesn’t mean that we won’t still have protection against severe disease... The virus is much more about the virus being able to continue to survive, rather than trying to cause harm to us.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca-pollar/vaccines-may-protect-against-severe-disease-even-as-variants-evolve-oxfords-pollard-says-idUSKBN2A30WV

Melatonin-Index as biomarker for presymptomatic, asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers

Fernandes, P.A., Kinker, G.S., Navarro, B.V., Jardim, V.C., Ribeiro-Paz, E.D., Córdoba-Moreno, M.O., Santos-Silva, D., Muxel, S.M., Fujita, A., Moraes, C., Nakaya, H.I., Buckeridge, M.S. and Markus, R.P.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32794/mr11250090

PDF: https://www.melatonin-research.net/index.php/MR/article/view/109/737

Abstract

The pandemic dissemination of the SARS-CoV-2 led, on the one hand, to a worldwide effort to develop mechanistic-based therapeutics and vaccines, and on the other hand, the searching for determining the spreaders and the mechanisms of transmission. Melatonin, a multitask molecule, orchestrates defense responses by allowing the proper mounting, duration, and magnitude of innate immune responses. Melatonin is synthesized on demand by immune-competent cells and constitutively by resident macrophages such as alveolar macrophages. Here we investigated whether the expression of genes relevant to virus invasion and infection varies according to a genic index (MEL-Index) that estimates the capacity of the lung to synthesize melatonin. A COVID-19-Signature composed of 455 genes of 288 human lungs (GTEX, UCSD) was correlated with MEL-Index by Pearson correlation test, gene-set enrichment analysis, and networking tool that integrates the connectivity between the most expressed genes, allowing us to compare the same set of genes under different states. The three independent procedures point to a negative relationship between MEL-Index and SARS-CoV-2 infection. The entry in epithelial AT2 cells should be hampered by a positive correlation TMRPSS2  and a negative correlation with the coding gene for furin, suggesting dysfunctional processing in virus spike. Moreover, MEL-Index also negatively correlates with the genes that codify the proteins of multi-molecular receptor complex CD147, the gateway in macrophages, and other immune cells. In summary, the perspective that lung and respiratory tract melatonin could be a natural protective factor opens new epidemiological and pharmacological perspectives, as high MEL-Index scores could be predictive of asymptomatic carriers, and nasal administrated melatonin could prevent evolution of presymptomatic carriers.

https://www.melatonin-research.net/index.php/MR/article/view/109